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Friday, November 06, 2009

Two More Executives Pass on BofA CEO Spot

By Matt Egan

FOXBusiness

Add JPMorgan Chase (JPM) execs Bill Winters and Charlie Scharf to the list of outsiders that have passed on replacing Ken Lewis as the next CEO of Bank of America (BAC).

According to the New York Post, Winters and Scharf have turned down BofA, as has new Citigroup (C) board member Michael O’Neil, the former head of Bank of Hawaii. Last week reports surfaced that Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) CEO Bob Kelly also passed on the job.

However, BlackRock (BLK) CEO Larry Fink, who has not been approach, might be interested in the job, the Post reported.

Faced with a dearth of interested external candidates, Bank of America’s CEO search may not be resolved until Thanksgiving, the Post reported. The process is creating factions inside BofA’s board of directors as some members have argued for an internal replacement for Lewis and others have pushed for new blood, the paper reported.

BofA’s troubles in attracting a candidate to lead the nation’s largest commercial bank likely stem from the fact it’s still under intense scrutiny from the government after it accepted $45 million in TARP cash and over disclosures related to its merger with Merrill Lynch. At the same time, the board doesn’t want to select someone the Federal Reserve or Treasury view as tainted, the Post reported.

While Brian Moynihan, head of BofA’s consumer lending business, has received strong support from some board members, Congress is investigating his role in the Merrill deal and he is set to testify on Capitol Hill later this month.

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